Saturday, April 19, 2008

2008 Ruth Anderson race

Gutsy/Gusty Performances in the 2008 Ruth Anderson 50K/50M/100KThe 2008 race was indeed one for the books. Not for any record performances by the runners but for the intense conditions they had to deal with and overcome on the way to their respective finishes.

Congratulations to all you runners irrespective of whether you finished or not.

Our thanks go out to all the volunteers who made this race happen. They braved the intense winds and the bitter cold with a smile and an ever present helping hand. I want to make a special mention of Chihping Fu who went over to the South AS and volunteered after his race. Yuki Negoro joined him around 2 p.m. after finishing his 50K.

One can gauge how tough it was from the 100K overall winner, Mark Tanaka's, time of 8:45:06. He ran the same distance last year in a PB of 7:57:03!

The back part of the 4.475 mile loop i.e. from mile 2.2 onwards was extremely windy all day long. There were reportedly some sections where the runners felt like they were not moving at all.

There were 6 DNFs from a starting group of 49 runners.

100K Race summaryMark Tanaka looked as smooth in his last lap as he had in his first. He did slow down from his furious 34-36 minute laps to 43-45 minute ones at the end but that hardly made a difference to the overall placing.

Lisa Huerta, the only woman to go the full distance, finished with a smile on her face and surrounded by her husband and children. Her winning time was 11:17:44.

50M Race summaryThe 50M race had 9 finishers with Eric Herdman being the overall winner in 7:03:02. Second place went to Michael Gilbert in 7:18:02 and 3rd. place to Steve Ansell in 8:33:17.

The women's winner, Carolyn Johnson, went on to win in 8:13:11. She had intended to run only 50K but wound up doing an extra lap beyond the 50K distance. When apprised about the rules, she gamely continued to run instead of earning a DNF. Instead she earned a first place woman's finish in the 50M. Lady Luck indeed smiles on the brave!

Like Lisa Huerta in the 100K, she was the only woman to attempt the 50M distance.

50K Race summaryJean Pommier ran away with the race and finished in 3:44:58. Ron Duncan, who signed up almost at the Friday online registration deadline of 7 p.m., finished in second place in 4:09:02 while Alan Geraldi finished 3rd in 4:14:27 reversing their finish order from last year.

Alan had finished 2nd. last year while Ron had posted his 3rd. place finish in 4:08:08. The time from this year shows remarkable consistency from this tall and lanky runner.

Beatrice Song won the women's race in 5:07:44. Jean Suyenaga and Carol Cuminale rounded off the 2nd. and 3rd. place finishes in 5:15:10 and 5:44:05.

Bharti Dudhela and Samanvitha Rao ran their first ultra marathon and finished with intense joy writ large on their faces.

Raman Rajpal ran his first 50M race 4 weeks after running his first ultra (the Pirates Cove 50K).

Anil Rao ran a self-supported 50K in Lalbagh Gardens in Bangalore in a time of 6:09:42.

David SirbiladzeHe woke up at 3:15 a.m. to drive with his nut of a friend, Rajeev Patel, to Lake Merced where he, single handedly, put up the 10x20 volunteer tent.

Steve JaberI learned so much from this amazing man about race directing. He was everywhere, taking care of all glitches.

DeniseA friend of Juliane Scheberies, was amazing all morning and many hours past noon. She was the heart and soul of the North aid station.

Anu SinghShe boiled a load of potatoes the evening before before sitting down to make the goodie bags. She then got up real early to drive up with me to the race where she volunteered in the North aid station.

Lily PatilShe too drove up early with me and helped out in the North aid station until she had to leave around 10:00 a.m.

ArulThis man was like my personal genie - he manifested all the things I needed within minutes! He was there from 5 a.m. until almost 3 p.m., all the while helping get stuff for both the aid stations.

GayathriArul's wife, helped out in the North aid station, all the while warming hearts with her beautiful smile

Cori, Mohan, Anil, Chandrakala (CK), RenukaThese hardy volunteers braved the gale force winds in the South aid station with an ever present smile and a helping hand.

Nicole WhitingShe showed up just after noon and spent the next 4-5 hours helping man the North aid station. She made and handed out hot soup to the runners and other volunteers and had a smile for everyone.

Manjula JonnalagadaManjula helped out in the North aid station and worked tirelessly for all the hours she was there.

Deepa RamamShowed up with a sleeping child and her parents and helped out including getting sandwiches for all the volunteers.

Stephanie Huynh, Wendy Hong, and Danielle ChaThese 3 young girls showed up at 6:15 in the North aid station and helped out until they had tpo leave at 10:00 a.m. These young girls are from a local school, Lowell High School, displayed great spirit and a willingness to help.

Hao Liu and Pete LubbersYour 50K timers, along with Jeff Jones, sat all by themselves timing your 50K finish and did it with a smile.

Shekhar Hemnani and Rajeev CharYour 50M timers, they helped bring down Race Central after the race and were there till the end helping the last 100K runners finish.

Hollis LenderkingShouting out bib numbers in the morning, he came back again later on to get stuff for the race. Thank you Hollis.

Dave Combs and Stan JensenThe numbers duo. These two manned their timing tent with an efficiency that I could only stand and admire. Knowing that they were in their tent crunching numbers let me spend my time with other race matters.

Jeff Jones and Lyal HolmbergJeff helped out in the North aid station, manned the 50K finish area and then headed to the South aid station where he and Lyal worked until the very end.

Chihping Fu & Yuki NegoroChihping went out to the South AS and helped out there for many hours after his race. Yuki too went there after his own 50K and helped Chihping.